Pokémon Ash and the Power of Love
by PokeMaster2694
Summary: Ash has finished the Sinnoh region second time round, this time on his own. He gets back for christmas to see his family and friends and meets Scott. They have a word and Max takes the battle frontier challenge. But not without the love of his life on the journey. What will happen?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1 – Introduction**

It was the evening of a cold December day, where a young boy was walking down a winding road, surrounded by glistening tree's covered in blankets of snow, this boy had just got back from the Sinnoh region after going back to compete in the league for a second time, although this time he travelled alone something he wasn't used to. With him on this beautiful sparkling road was his best friend a little yellow mouse. They had come back for the Christmas holidays, something that he had to share with his family, friends and of course his pokémon.

This boy goes by the name Ash Ketchum, and his best friend the pokémon called Pikachu. As he got nearer to town he decided he wanted to get home sooner rather than later, and Pikachu reading his masters thoughts, due to the unbreakable bond they share, decided to shoot off.

"Pikachu, wait up buddy!" Exclaimed Ash, realising his best friend had started a race between the two of them.

"Pika" replied Pikachu, shaking his head and giggling.

They finally reached the house, with Ash huffing and puffing after what seemed to be a run the size of a marathon.

"Mime, Mime" Ash looked up to see that his mum and her Mr Mime were waiting for him to come.

As Ash and Pikachu walked closer to the house, out of nowhere came a kid no older than 13 wearing A green and white polo shirt, brown shorts, and green trainers. He was running towards the house when he slipped on some ice and slid on his backside, until he came to a halt at Ash's feet.

"Hi Max, what are you doing here?" Asked Ash.

"Hey Ash, I thought I'd stop by for Christmas, if that's okay with you Mrs Ketchum?"

"That would be terrific Max, the more the merrier" said Delia in a very festive jolly voice.

"Come on then" said Ash "Let's get inside out of the cold."

"Hey Mum, is there anyone else coming over for Christmas?"

"Professor Oak and Gary are coming over, and I believe Misty and Tracey are two." Replied Delia.

"Hey Ash" Max piped up, "Could I bunk in your room?"

"Sure Max" said Ash "We can talk about how your journey's been going."

"Yeah that'd be great!" Max shouted.

With that Max and Ash went to bed after what seemed an endless journey home for the two young boys.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 - Who's your Pokémon!**

It was Christmas Eve morning in the Ketchum household; Ash had been woken up by an energetic Pikachu.

"Hey what's up buddy" said Ash, half asleep.

"Pika Chu" said the little electric mouse pointing to the door.

"Come on lazy bum, get up, thought you might want to see me" said the girl standing at the door way, giving Ash a cheeky wink whilst doing so.

Ash being half asleep didn't recognise the girl at first, but as he came round he could just about make out what she was wearing: A green bandana with a white circle and semi circle, black, white and green gloves, black shorts, orange trainers, an orange top and a green waist bag.

"May?" Ash asked.

"The one and only" May said giggling

"Hey sis" Max said, sitting up after being woke up from the conversation.

"Hey Max, when did you arrive?" May asked

"Last night, after a bumpy ride" Max said laughing, whilst rubbing his backside.

"Well" said May "Delia's making breakfast, do you reckon we should go down?"

"Sounds like a plan" shouted Ash, jumping out of bed.

By this time Pikachu was already downstairs waiting for the three trainers to come down. As they made their way down the stairs Max said to Ash,

"Hey Ash, do you want to see my pokémon?"

"Yeah Max that'd be awesome and you could see my new pokémon too"

"Hey, what about my pokémon? I think you'd love to see them!" exclaimed May.

"Of course May" replied Ash, "I'd love too."

The three trainers and Delia were at the table eating their breakfasts, talking about their adventures without one another when they heard a knock at the door.

"I'll get it" said Ash, wondering who it could be.

Ash opened the door to two friends of his, one was a tall boy, with brown hair and squinty eyes, and he was wearing grey trousers, a green shirt, blue trainers and an orange and brown jacket. Whilst the girl compared to the boy was really short, she had long blue hair and wore a white hat with a pink circle and semi-circle on it, similar to that of May's. She was wearing a black and pink dress, with knee high black socks and pink boots that came to the top of her shins, and round her neck she wore her favourite bright pink scarf, and she was holding a little blue pokémon.

"Hey Ash" the two said simultaneously.

"Hey Brock, Hey Dawn, it's nice to see you both, are you staying over for Christmas?"

"That sounds like a plan" said Brock

"Ditto" added Dawn

"Awesome" Ash said joyfully, "Come in, were in the kitchen eating breakfast"

As Dawn and Brock walked in May and Max turned round to say hi, with May recognising both of them, but Max only recognised Brock.

"Ash, who's the girl?" asked Max

"That's Dawn, she travelled with me and Brock when I was in the Sinnoh region, the first time round."

"Oh" said Max, "Then hi Dawn, I'm Max, May's little brother"

"Hi Max" Dawn said with a joyful smile.

The trainers finished their breakfasts and all went into the living room. They were all sat down talking when Max jumped up and said:

"Why don't we show each other our pokémon now?"

"That sounds good Max" said Ash "Why don't you go first?"

"Okay!" shouted Max

"Here they are!" Max shouted throwing 6 poké balls in the air.

Six silhouettes could be seen coming out of the poké balls, one a green pokémon that everyone recognised suddenly, another was a little crab pokémon, one which Ash recognised. The next one was a pokémon that looked in many ways like a human, another one a large dog type pokémon, another that of a monkey, and the last one a giant dragonfly.

"Meet my pokémon, Grovyle, Corphish, Gardevior, Mightyena, Chimchar and last but not least Flygon." Said Max

"Wow Max" everyone exclaimed

Brock piped up "Is that the Ralts and Mightyena you met when we were travelling?"

"Yup, the very same" Max replied smiling. "Ash, you might recognise this Flygon"

"Wait is that the Flygon we used to help save Jirachi?"

"Yes" Max said "I travelled all the way back to Forina, and it recognised me, I'd gone back to remember that week I'd had with Jirachi and just before I was about to leave Flygon wanted to go with me, so I threw my poké ball and Flygon activated it and we've been together since"

"Wow Max, that's really great" said Ash "Well I guess I'm next then"

With that Ash grabbed six poké balls from his belt, excluding that of Pikachu's, he threw them upwards and again out popped six silhouettes. The first of the silhouettes was a dog like pokémon, with what looked to be a blade on its head. The next a huge salamander like pokémon with teeth like razors, another one was a familiar shape it was that of a gecko, one which Max, Brock and May recognised straight away. The next pokémon was one which Brock recognised a pokémon shaped like a dragon with a flame burning on its tail. The one after that was a small aquatic pokémon, one which Dawn recognised, as it was once hers. The pokémon after that was a tall jackal like creature, one that could talk through a thing called aura, a magnificent fighting machine, one which respected Ash very well. And of course last but not least a small yellow mouse jumped in with the crowd.

"Well these are my current pokémon" Ash said, with a giant smile on his face

"Say hello to Absol, Salamence, Sceptile, Charizard, Buizel, Lucario and of course Pikachu"

"They're awesome Ash" exclaimed May, blushing because of the fact she was the first to say something.

"Yeah ash it looks like a really strong party of pokémon" added Dawn

"They all look so confident as well" Max said in a voice he would have when he was 7.

"There's just one thing I don't get" Brock said "How are you carrying seven pokémon?"

"I knew someone would ask" laughed Ash "It's because I keep Pikachu's ball in my bag rather than on my belt, meaning I have an extra space on my belt to carry another pokémon."

"Very smart Ash" said Brock.

At that moment Brock threw his poké balls revealing four pokémon, these pokémon were a pokémon shaped like a tree, one that looked like a frog, the third a pink baby pokémon, and the fourth a blue fish type pokémon.

"Behold my pokémon, Sudowoodo, Croagunk, Happiny, and Marshtomp" said Brock

"Still keeping the same roster Brock?" Ash replied.

"Yep, Forest has my other pokémon so I thought id keep the four I have"

"What about Ludicolo?" May asked

"He keeps my younger siblings amused, and he loves it too" said Brock

"Well that's nice to know" May replied

"My pokémon are next!" shouted Dawn

Dawn threw up three poké balls, these revealed the silhouettes of a large flying pokémon, a little gecko pokémon and a large bear like pokémon with flames residing on its back. Then a little blue pokémon ran over from where Dawn was sat.

"These are my pokémon, Togekiss, Treeko, Typhlosion and Piplup"

"Well Dawn that quite a decent combination of pokémon" Brock said

"Well I decided to bring with me just these pokémon and see if I could see anymore to catch" Dawn said smiling.

"Well guess I'm up last then" May said striking a pose, and winking at Ash. This made Ash smile and gave him a feeling he'd never felt before.

May threw in the air six poké balls, The first pokémon to become visible was her fire type she'd had since she started her journey, the next a huge dinosaur pokémon with a flower on its back one Ash recognized straight off, another a small feline pokémon it was different shades of blue and looked beautiful when the light was glistening off it. The next pokémon was a huge turtle pokémon with cannons on its back; another pokémon was one which she had carried with her since catching it as a Wurmple in the Hoenn region and the last pokémon to come out of May's poké ball was a small blue aquatic pokémon, which made Ash, Brock and Max gasp, it had a red gem in the middle of its body, two antennae like ears, and big yellow and blue eyes.

All three of the guys said "Is that who I think it is?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 – Christmas Eve**

May took a deep breath and replied,

"Yes, It's Manaphy the very one from those years ago"

"Wow May, when did you capture it?" Ash shouted in excitement

"Well..." Just as May was about to tell everyone another pokémon released itself from it's poké ball, but this poké ball was inside May's bag, there in front of everyone stood a little mouse like pokémon, it was yellow and black.

"May is that a Pichu" Brock asked

"Yep, and now you know about Pichu I'll tell you what happened with Manaphy."

"It all happened when I was travelling the Hoenn region again, just before I set off to come here actually. I was walking alongside the seashore when saw this Pichu jump out of the bushes, and it reminded me of you Ash, because of Pikachu, I thought to myself I'm going to catch this Pichu and have it with me to keep me reminded of the times the four of us had in Hoenn and Kanto. (In her head May thought the main reason was to keep Ash as close to my heart as possible but everyone doesn't need to know). So I started to battle Pichu and I'd won and was just about to throw my poké ball when another pokémon jumped in front and got caught instead, so I quickly threw another poké ball and caught Pichu as well, I put Pichu's poké ball into my bag and picked up the other ball and opened it, because I had no idea what pokémon it was that jumped in the way. When it came out Manaphy jumped into my arms and said 'Love you mama, love you May' and that's when I realised that this was 'my' Manaphy."

"Well May that's great, especially now you're reunited" said Ash

"I know Ash it feels amazing" Said May, thinking to herself but not as amazing as it is being here with you.

Everyone called back their pokémon, with the exception of Pikachu, Piplup and Happiny. But as May went to call back her Pichu, the little electric type smacked the poké ball with its tail back at her. Just then a voice came from the door way:

"Well that brings back a memory of de ja vu, wouldn't you say Ash?"

Everyone turned round to see professor Oak laughing.

"I'd say it's a huge case of de ja vu professor" Ash laughed

"Whattaya mean?" May asked looking puzzled

"Well May, when I started with Pikachu I went to recall him, and did exactly the same as Pichu did. It looks as if you've got a pokémon that doesn't want to go in it's poké ball" Laughed Ash

"Wow" said May looking at her Pichu, "So you want to travel with me like Pikachu does with Ash"

"Pi Pi" said the tiny mouse, smiling and jumping around.

The 5 trainers were sat in the living room when Ash remembered that he'd not bought any presents for his friends and his Mum.

"Guys I've got to pop into to town"

"Okay Ash" said Brock, "we'll stay here and help with the decorations and food"

"Okay Brock, see you all in a while"

With that Ash and Pikachu darted out of the house and ran towards town. He couldn't believe that he'd forgotten to buy presents for everyone. Pikachu looking at he dearest friend laughed realising what was going on. Ash got to the shops and made a list in his head, right Pikachu we need presents for May, Brock, Max, Dawn, Mum, Professor Oak, Misty and Tracey.

"Pika Pika" replied Pikachu, with a smile on his face.

Just as Ash and Pikachu were about to go into one of the shops a girl popped up out of nowhere, it was one Ash recognised she wore pink trainers, a green shirt, green socks and a short white skirt, and had brown hair shaped like pokémon's wings.

"Bianca?" Ash called out.

The girl seemed to acknowledge the trainers call though she didn't speak but merely walked towards the trainer and his Pikachu. The girl then gave Ash a kiss on the side of his cheek, this made Ash blush. At that moment she picked up a poké ball and through it in the air.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4:**

The poké ball hit the girl on the head and opened, shooting a red beam as it did so. The girl went inside the poké ball, this shocked Ash, the ball began rolling and eventually stopped, Ash caught Bianca. With that Ash threw the ball up, and the girl came out, she then transformed revealing the pokémon Latias the newest member of Ash's team. Ash was overjoyed with this and the jet plane like pokémon flew towards him tackling him to the ground to hug him.

With Ash's brand new pokémon he rushed in to town to buy the presents for his friends.

"Hey Pikachu, let's look for Brock first"

"Pika, Pikachu" replied Pikachu giving a saluting stance

"Let's go then" Ash smiled

With that Ash and Pikachu looked round the shops looking for a present that would be suitable for Brock, they were finding it hard and couldn't really find anything until they came up to one shop that sold cooking utensils shaped like different pokémon.

"Wow" said Ash "Pikachu look at this"

The small mouse turned around to see a serving platter shaped as a Lotad. It was larger than a Lotad to create more space to put food on the leaf on it's head.

"This would be great for Brock, come on Pikachu let's get it" said Ash joyfully.

With that the trainer and his pokémon went into the shop and bought the poképlatter. Just as they walked out of the shop Pikachu ran to another shop and pointed out the latest pokénav on the high street.

"Wow Pikachu well spotted buddy, this will be great for Max" Ash said

"Pi Pika" Pikachu exclaimed with a grin on his face.

Ash went into the shop to buy the pokénav for Max and whilst in the store he saw a brand new sketch book that came with a whole tin of pencils and a book to keep them in once they're drawn. Ash thought to himself that would be ideal for Tracey, and that's another person I'll have got a present for.

"Well Pikachu we only have to get a present for Mum, Misty, Professor Oak and May" Ash said to his best friend.

The next shop the two of them went into was a computer shop, the reason Ash went into it was to buy his Mum a videophone to have in the house as a Christmas present this would mean that she wouldn't have to go to the poké centre or to the professors lab to call Ash on his journey. But whilst they were there he also spotted a new device that was about the size of a computer screen but it was handheld it seemed to have a camera in it as well, when Ash asked the sales assistant he said it was the latest in technology and was called a tablet. Ash thought this would be great for the professor so he could work on his studies even when he's not at the computer.

"I'll take this and this then thank you" Ash said to the sales assistant,

"Okay, and because the tablet is new we are doing a special deal on buy one get one free" replied the sales assistant,

"Thank you" gleamed Ash,

Ash thought this to be good as he would take the spare one for himself on his journey's as the tablet also made as a portable videophone and this would enable him to contact his family and friends wherever and whenever. As Ash and Pikachu left the shop they thought what a good present for Misty would be when it hit them;

"We need to get Misty something to do with water" Ash exclaimed

"Pika-chu" said Pikachu following his friend down the street

They both came to a shop that sold everything you could imagine to do with water, anchors, boats, pokémon dolls and many more things. Ash thought this would be the ideal place to buy something for Misty so they went in. They looked around and eventually came up to a shelf that had different types of pokéballs, at first Ash wondered why they would be pokéballs in a shop like this but then the shopkeeper came over and explained to Ash that these weren't ordinary pokéballs, something Ash had realised with them being a completely different design and colour to ordinary pokéballs, it was a turquoise blue colour with black strips on it that in some way resembled a net. The shopkeeper explained to Ash and Pikachu that these were net balls and they increased the chance of catching water type pokémon, with hearing that Ash thought to himself that is ideal for Misty.

"I'll take five of them please" Ash said

"Certainly" replied the shopkeeper "I'll also throw in a complementary gift box for them seeing as it's Christmas"

"Thank you very much" Ash said happily, thinking to himself that's one present I don't have to wrap.

With that Ash left to get one more present, May's.

"Hey Pikachu, what do you think we can get for May?" Ash asked

"Pika Pi Pika" replied Pikachu shrugging his shoulders somewhat.

"Hmmm yeah, guess you're right buddy it's a hard one." Replied Pikachu

The trainer and his Pikachu carried on walking down the street when they came to a shop where clothes were on a huge sale, so they went in and bought a turquoise blue bandana in the same style as her red one, the same colour top in the same style to her orange one, and a pair of turquoise blue trainers, they also got her a pair of gloves, that were black on the finger tips and cuff and were turquoise in the middle. All the clothing's accents were black. Ash loved what he had bought her thinking she would adore it, however it was the cheapest of all the presents bought he wanted to get her something else, because after all it was May. Whenever he thought about her he seemed to get a weird feeling inside of him that he couldn't explain, but he liked it.

After they left the shop they were looking for something else to get her when they noticed that all the shops had closed, this made Ash feel upset due to the fact he really wanted to get her something else when out of the distance he saw the silhouette of a pokémon it was a small red lizard pokémon with a flame on it's tail, then he realized it to be a Charmander.

"Wow Pikachu, we should catch the Charmander for May, that way she'll have all the Kanto region starters" Ash said so jolly and fast that his best friend could barely understand.

"Pika Pika" The mouse said jumping up and down

"Right okay then, Go Buizel" Screamed Ash throwing his pokéball

Out of a red beam came a small fox like aquatic pokémon.

"Right Buizel were gonna catch this pokémon for May" Exclaimed Ash

"Bui Bui" replied Buizel

With that the battle commenced with Ash's first command being a water pulse, this blue sphere of water shot like an aurora sphere, due to the fight Buizel had against Maylene's Lucario in the Sinnoh region, hit the little red lizard head on. Charmander then turned around and fired an ember attack on Buizel which the aquatic pokémon easily dodged.

"Okay the Buizel, Aqua jet go!" Ash shouted,

With that Buizel shrouded itself in water and again made contact with the Charmander, however this time the contact was that powerful that the Charmander fainted allowing Ash to do the rest.

"Go Pokéball" Ash shouted after spinning his hat round.

The Charmander was turned into pure red energy and went into the pokéball and with that the pokéball began to shake from side to side and eventually stopped, signalling Ash had caught the pokémon. With that Ash and Pikachu headed off to the Pokémon Centre to get the Charmander healed, because he didn't want May calling out a fainted pokémon in the morning.

After having being to the pokémon centre Ash and Pikachu headed home to wrap the presents and put them under the tree. But he also wanted to pay a trick on his friends so he called out is Latias.

"Hey Latias, do you want to play a joke"

"eee" replied Latias giggling

"Okay, turn into your human form and I'll return you to your ball so that when you come out it will look like I captured a person" Ash explained

"eeeeeee" Latias replied nodding her head.

With that Latias turned herself back into Bianca and Ash proceeded to call her back into her pokéball. And with that Ash went into the house, ready to scare his friends and family. Ash walked through the door and straight up to his bedroom where he barricaded the door so that no-one could get in whilst he was wrapping the presents. He'd finally finished wrapping the presents and went downstairs to put them under the tree. Whilst doing so he realised everyone was in the living room and decided this was the time to reveal his new pokémon.

"Guess what I caught when I was out shopping" Ash said to everyone

"We don't Ash what did you catch" everyone in the room replied in unison

"Guess I'll have to show you" Ash said smiling

Ash then tossed in the air his pokéball and watched the faces of his friends and Mum, at first the silhouette they saw sort of resembled a Gardevior with it being human shaped however there faces went from being normal as if it was a normal pokémon to be caught, to completely horrified as they realised they had caught a human, even more so for Misty and Brock as they realised it was Bianca.

"Ash" exclaimed Brock in shock "howww hhave yoouuu ccauuughhht Biannca?"

The others followed by asking how he'd caught a human, and Ash merely chuckled to himself with Pikachu giggling as well,

"Well then do you reckon we should show them how we caught a human Pikachu?" Ash calmly asked his electric pokémon

"Pika Pi" replied the little mouse giggling

"Okay then, Latias reveal your true form" Ash told his newest caught pokémon

"eeeee" replied the eon pokémon phasing to her pokémon form.

The sigh of relief in the room was great, and whilst hearing it Ash, Pikachu and Latias were all rolling on the floor laughing to themselves, this in turn made Misty angry and she punched Ash on his head much like she did to Psyduck, this made Ash rub his head in pain, but then everyone else started to laugh including Pikachu and Latias much to Ash's dismay, but he himself saw the funny side in the end.

With that Brock asked how he caught Latias to which Ash answered straight away, however Brock saw that may looked a bit uneasy when Ash mentioned the kiss on the cheek. Due to this Brock decided he was going to watch the two teenagers to see what may happen. However he also thought to himself why would a kiss from a pokémon unsettle her. After talking everyone went into the other room to get their tea's and then went to bed waiting to see what tomorrow would bring.

Before he went to bed Ash helped Brock wash the dishes and the two of them headed upstairs, due to the Ketchum household being fairly small sleeping was a bit of a pain as the rooms weren't very big, Tracey and Professor Oak went back to the lab to sleep and were coming back in the morning whereas everyone else par Delia were in Ash's room, due to the 'gentlemen' they were Ash, Brock and Max slept on the floor allowing Misty and May to top-end-tail in Ash's bed, which they both thanked the boys for. And with that the five of them crashed out and awaited the arrival of what tomorrow would bring.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Christmas Day **

Tomorrow morning came faster than expected for the kids in the household they had woke up early so they could rush downstairs to see what had been brought for them, after all of the household rushing downstairs, Professor Oak and Tracey turned up. With everyone here they all decided to start opening their presents, everyone had opened all their present apart from the ones that Ash had gotten them. The first person to open their present was Brock he loved the present and was very grateful to Ash for it.

"Thanks Ash I love it, I'll be able to take it on our journeys" said Brock

"Don't worry about it Brock, I'm glad you like it" replied Ash

The next person to open their present was Max, due to the fact Ash put the pokénav in a box he couldn't figure out what it was, however when he opened it max was over the moon, the updates in the pokénav included the new video call and a new colour rather than it being yellow it was now red and white.

"Wow Ash thank you this is awesome" Max exclaimed

"Aha, don't worry about it Max" said Ash smiling

After Max, Tracey, Professor Oak and Delia opened their presents, with each of them knowing exactly what the presents were, and each of them were ecstatic with their gifts, the fact they knew what they were was better for Ash as he didn't have to explain to them exactly what they were and how to work them, however he did explain to his mum that the video phone would have to be installed and would be on the 2nd January, as the places were closed till after the new year.

Next to open their present was Misty, at first she didn't have a clue what they were but she loved them anyway, Ash then explained to her that they were net balls, and they have a higher catch ratio for water pokémon than ordinary pokéballs do. After hearing that you could clearly see she was overjoyed and couldn't wait to use them and increase the amount of pokémon she has at her disposal in the cerulean gym.

"Thank you Ash these are great, you couldn't have got me anything better" said Misty

"Haha, it was nothing" replied Ash, scratching the back of his head

After Misty had unwrapped her present Delia called into everyone to tell them that breakfast was ready, with that everyone but May ran into the kitchen to get some, before Ash ate most of it, but as they were going in Ash was last to go through the kitchen door when he himself had realised that May hadn't moved, which in his eyes was odd considering they both had the same kind of appetite.

"Hey, May you not hungry?" asked Ash, looking dumbfounded

"Hey Ash, and yeah I am but..." replied May before Ash cut in,

"Oh, you haven't opened your present yet have you?" said Ash realising that she was the only one not to open their present from him.

"No, I didn't get chance" said May, slightly upset

"It's okay, open it now while it's just me and you" said Ash sympathetically with one arm round May to comfort her.

Whilst he put his arm round May even though it was just to comfort her, which he'd done on a few occasions, this time was different that feeling was back and he still didn't know what it was. May however knew what this feeling was and she had it also and it cheered her up, however she didn't know if Ash felt the same, because well Ash is Ash. From the kitchen Brock could see what was going on and he chuckled to himself.

"_Aaah young love" _thought Brock

May then opened her present, she hadn't a clue as to what it could be as Ash had put the pokéball in the middle and wrapped the clothing around it as a ball and put the ball on top of the shoes. As she opened the present she gleamed with excitement, Ash could see it in her face which made him feel warm and fuzzy inside, it was different but he liked it, however he didn't want to show it in case May didn't feel the same way.

May carried on unwrapping the present and laid out all her clothes on the floor in the way they would be if she had them on, then realised the pokéball was laid in her right shoe, she picked it up and said;

"Hey Ash, did you buy me a pokéball"

"Sort of May, why not open it?" replied Ash

"Okay, I will"

While saying that May through the pokéball into the air and was shocked to see a silhouette of a small lizard like pokémon, she then put her pokédex forward to identify the pokémon and thus hearing the description of it, turned round and literally threw herself on Ash and hugged him, he felt like he was in a pokémon's bind attack.

"Maa-aay, ease up a little pleeeease" said Ash gasping for air.

"Oh, sorry Ash, it's just I wanted to thank you for these great gifts" replied May

"It's fine honestly, it's just I couldn't breathe you were hugging me that tight haha" Laughed Ash

"Oh haha, sorry" laughed May

"Don't worry about it, I'm just glad you like your stuff" Ash said with a gleaming smile on his face

"Thank you Ash" May said softly

With that May and Ash had another with both of them feeling the same inside and carried on hugging until Charmander jumped up onto May's lap and laid there nudging May asking her to stroke her in the process. When May finished they both went into the kitchen to get some breakfast when they realised there was no food left to which both the teens looked at each other and fainted.

30 minutes later they both woke up to the scent of sausages and eggs, which Brock being the loving man he is cooked the two, in his mind love birds, some breakfast as he felt bad that everyone else had eaten the food before they had even got a sniff in.

After everyone had eaten Max asked Ash if he could have a battle, to which Ash replied of course. Especially with Ash being Ash and never giving up the chance to have a battle. With that everyone went outside to see the two of them have a battle, Brock was referee and said the battle would be a double battle with each of them allowed to choose just 4 pokémon each. To start with Max called out his Gardevior and Flygon, so Ash thinking logically called out his Salamence and Absol. The battle started well with Max causing blow after blow of Psybeam and Dragonbreath, the Dragonbreath was causing damge on Salamence however Absol was doing great at holding of the Psybeam, Ash then turned round and ordered two direct attacks.

"Absol Shadow Ball on Gardevior and Salamence Dragon Claw on Flygon" Cried Ash, both attacks hit causing super effective critical hits, causing both Gardevior and Flygon to faint.

"Gardevior and Flygon are unable to battle, Max you need to send out your remaining two Pokémon" called Brock

"Well done guys you battled well, You got lucky Ash, my next two Pokémon will take you down" Max said "Come on out Corphish and Chimchar" cried Max

"Well" said Ash "Interesting choice Max, I waiting to see what you will do"

The battle then commenced with Ash calling Absol to use Razorwind and Salamence to use Dragonbreath, both made direct hits but both Max's pokémon took hardly any damage and got straight back up.

"Chimchar use Dig, Corphish Bubblebeam" Cried Max

"Quick Absol jump onto Salamence and Salamence soar high into the sky" Ash Cried out

Both of Chimchar and Corphish's attacks missed making Max think of his next move but while Max was thinking Ash cried out his next move.

"Absol, Air Slash on Corphish, Salamence Flamethrower on Chimchar"

"Quickly" Max cried out "Corphish Ice Beam on Salamence, Chimchar..."

Corphish managed to make his hit causing damage to Salamence, but unfortunately for Max Absol's Air Slash connected with Chimchar causing the fire type to fall down.

"Chimchar!" Max cried out

As Max called his little fire type was glowing white, as they saw it everyone said in unison,

"It's evolving"

Max's Chimchar had just evolved into Monferno, thus gaining an extra type, fighting, Max thought to himself,

_Excellent Monferno is part fighting and knows Mach Punch, a move that is super effective against Ash's Absol, If I can get Ash to draw his pokémon close enough I could knock them out in the move._

"Salamence, Absol attack using Flamethrower and Shadowball." Ash called out

"Wait till the attacks come then dodge and Corphish use Ice Beam on Salamence and Monferno use Mach Punch on Absol" Max cried out

Both pokémon did as instructed and landed each move perfectly, knocking both Ash's pokémon out at exactly the same time.

"Both Salamence and Absol are unable to battle, Ash call out your last two pokémon" Brock said

Both May and Misty were sat next to each other watching the match and both asked each other what pokémon Ash was going to call out, they thought about it and then it hit them, the weaknesses of Max's two pokémon were psychic and electric, they waited to see who Ash was going to call out, and he called out who they thought he would.

"Pikachu I'm choosing you for this battle, and to make the tag team, come on out Latias!" Cried Ash

"Feel free to make the first move Ash" Max said confidently

"Well, if you're sure okay Max, Pikachu Volt Tackle on Corphish and Latias use Psychic on Monferno" Ash cried out.

"Quicky Monferno use Dig, and Corphish get in the hole too" Max called

Monferno evaded the attack however Corphish wasn't quick enough to avoid the attack and Pikachu's Volt Tackle hit head on, knocking Corphish out because of the sheer power and type advantage Pikachu has.

"Corphish is unable to battle, the remainder of the battle will b battle in the favour of Ash" said Brock

The rest of the battle lasted all of a minute as Ash had Pikachu jump on the back of Latias and re-create his own special move Thunderarmour such a powerful move if it was to become a direct hit however max had Monferno use Dig and he evaded the attack, then Ash had Pikachu use Quick Attack to knock Moferno out of the whole and into the air, then having Latias have a very powerful Zen Headbutt to knock out Max's Monferno.

"Monferno is unable to battle the winner is Ash" Brock said.

"Thank you Monferno, you battled well return" Max said

"Max that was a great battle, you can tell you're turning into a great trainer" Ash said

Everyone went over to the two trainers and told them how great a battle it was and May said to Ash how strong he's gotten and that his Pokémon are looking great, just as everyone was about to disband and head back to the house Professor Oak came out to speak to Ash, he wanted to ask him to accompany him tomorrow when he visits his friend Professor Juniper in the Unova region for two days. Ash replied yes to this so Ash told the others they could stay at the house while he was gone and then they would think of what adventure to go on next.

The next morning it was 9am and the only people in the house awake were Ash and Professor Oak, or so they thought unbeknownst to them May was also awake, Ash and Oak were just finishing getting their stuff ready before setting off Ash let out all of his pokémon and told them to wait at the house and take a rest while he was gone and that he would see them when he gets back. Just as Ash and the Professor were about to leave May appears behind them and gives Ash a hug, she tells Ash that she'll look after his pokémon while he's gone to which Ash replies,

"Thanks May"

And with that Ash and the Professor head for their flight. Whilst on the flight Ash asks the Professor about the Unova region but all the Professor could say was it's something that you need to find out yourself Ash and left it at that. The flight seemed to take forever but they eventually got there and headed towards Professor Junipers lab.

When inside Ash was keen to look around and did while Professor Oak went in search of Professor Juniper. Just then Professor Juniper came out to greet Oak and Ash and showed them around however because Juniper and Oak had a meeting to attend Juniper had a favour to ask of Ash.

"Ash, whilst me and Professor Oak are in this meeting can help me out with something" asked Professor Juniper

"Of course Professor Juniper what do you want me to do?" replied Ash

"That's great Ash, I'd like you to watch the starter Pokémon Snivy, Oshawott, and Tepig for me" informed Professor Juniper

"Sure that'd be awesome" Ash replied ecstatically.

With that Professor Juniper showed Ash the three pokémon a female Snivy and male Tepig and Oshawott, all three pokémon took a liking to Ash straight away and Professor Juniper could see this and smiled. After that the two professors headed of to their meeting and left Ash with the pokémon. Ash and the starters were having a great time laughing and playing it had been over 2 hours now and the three starters were now bonded with Ash as if they were his own pokémon. Then both Professors came through the door and laughed at Ash who was being pilled on by all three of the pokémon.

Over the course of the rest of the day Ash continued to look after and play with the pokémon and they really enjoyed it, something that made Ash extremely happy, at about 10pm Ash and the Professors went to bed before Ash and Oak had to set of the next morning. The next morning at 10am Ash and Oak were ready to set off when Professor Juniper came to the door with three poké balls she opened them up so that Snivy, Tepig and Oshawott could say goodbye however rather than the three pokémon saying goodbye they jumped on Ash and refused to go back with Professor Juniper.

"I thought this might happen" laughed Professor Juniper

"Thought what might happen Professor?" asked Ash confused

"Snivy, Tepig and Oshawott have bonded with you and want to go with you Ash, which leads me to the next point here are their poké balls." Explained Professor Juniper

"Wow, are you sure Professor?" exclaimed Ash

"Yes Ash, but make sure you take care of them" said Professor Juniper

"I will do Professor thank you" replied Ash

With that Professor Oak and Ash accompanied by his new pokémon headed towards the plane only to find two wild pokémon quarrelling Professor Oak said these pokémon were an Axew and a Scraggy, he also insisted they needed to be calmed down so over they went to help the two pokémon. Whilst trying to help Ash came up with a brilliant idea of catching them so that he could have a new roster of pokémon to start another journey with so that's what he did using his new Snivy and Tepig Ash knocked out both pokémon and caught them both, thus stopping the quarrelling and allowing both the Professor and himself to get to the plane before it left without them.

After another energy draining flight Ash and the Professor returned to the Ketchum household for Ash to be pilled on by his pokémon. And May!


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 – Home Again**

Ash's Pokémon were so grateful to see him again and from Brocks point of view May was even more so. His pokémon finally let Ash get up for air, as Sceptile got up however May went flying across the room, it looked as if she was heading straight for the opposite wall. But a split second before she about collide with it two vines gripped her and stopped her from hitting the wall. Because her eyes were closed the first thing May said was;

"Venusaur?" thinking her dinosaur grass type had popped out of her pokéball to save her trainer.

"Sni, Snivy" replied a small green pokémon that no-one recognised.

"Huh!" May said in shock. "What's that pokémon?"

"Thanks for helping May, Snivy" said Ash to his newest grass type.

"Snivy" the little grass pokémon replied smiling.

Everyone was shocked to see that Ash no had another new Pokémon and started asking questions about the new grass type Pokémon Snivy. However within a matter of seconds another four pokéballs popped open revealing the other Pokémon Ash had received whilst over in Unova. The Pokémon were Oshawott, Tepig, Axew and Scraggy. Each of the five Pokémon including Snivy had its own individual trait. Snivy was a very confident Pokémon, Oshawott being a clumsy one, Tepig very shy, Axew was very playful and Scraggy was headstrong never backing down from a challenge.

Ash introduced his new Pokémon to everyone, they were all fond of the young Pokémon with Misty and May clearly pointing out how cute the five of them were. Ash explained to everyone that he was going to start training with these Pokémon to see how well they would fair in battles. Delia then came through to tell everyone that lunch was served and to come and get some. As everyone were making their way to the kitchen there was a knock at the door.

"I'll get it" shouted Ash

Ash opened the door to see a fairly large man stood in front of him, he was wearing his signature Hawaiian flower top, still had his ruffly hair, Ash new from the minute he laid eyes on him who it was.

"Hey Ash" said the man

"Hey Scott, what are you doing here?" replied Ash looking confused

"I've come to talk about something Ash if you're interested that is?"

"Sure thing Scott fire away"

"Well Ash the thing is we've now got a space for a new frontier brain and I was wondering now it's been a while if you would like to be the newest frontier brain to be in the battle frontier, if you do you will also become the final challenge for the participants." Explained Scott

"That sounds really interesting Scott, what would my facility be and could I choose my staff?" Asked Ash

"The choice of the facility is up to you Ash, we haven't built it yet but it would only take a couple of month's tops, and of course you can choose your staff. Why? What have you got in mind?" Scott asked curiously.

"Well the thing is Scott I know Max wants to challenge the battle frontier so I could travel with him until the facility has been built, with regards to my staff, there isn't a facility where double battles occur is there?"

"No there isn't Ash, but I think I know where you're going with this" replied Scott enthusiastically.

Ash then ran to talk to one of his friend's to which they replied about the idea with another two suggesting terms, the only person that didn't know what was going on was Max but he figured he'd find out somehow anyway. Ash then returned to Scott and told him where he wanted his facility based and what he wanted it to look like, and how the battle area would operate. Scott was delighted with what he had heard, you could tell this by the overwhelming size of the grin on his face, and with that Scott said farewell to Ash and began preparing the facility of Ash's.

With that Ash decided to join everyone in the kitchen to eat. While at the table everyone asked what was the next move for the trainers, Max said he was going to challenge the battle frontier to which everyone knew anyway but he felt like saying it again because of how fired up it made him feel. Misty said she had to go back to the Cerulean Gym to wait for more challengers, May said she was going to tag along with Max, and Ash and Brock looked at each other and said simultaneously;

"Count us in!"

The next day arrived and everyone was raring to get out on their next adventure, Ash had decided that he was to take his new Pokémon with him and Pikachu of course. May decided to take Charmander, Manaphy, Glaceon and Pichu, Delia suggested leaving her other Pokémon with Ash's at Professor Oaks to which May said yes. Brock decided to take Marshtomp and Max took all his Pokémon. It felt different for Ash knowing he wouldn't be challenging the frontier but cheering Max on instead. However he would still train his Pokémon whilst on the journey. In hopes that they'd get stronger for when he gets to the final destination.

At 11:00 the gang set out to their first destination, the battle factory. They had just left Pallet Town and were walking down a long winding road when they came up to what looked like a battle field, as they got closer they realised it was a battle field, there was a mini tournament going on with the winner getting a special candy that made Pokémon evolve into their next evolutionary stage. Ash from the minute he read battle wanted to sign up for it so that's what they did.

Everyone signed up, the rule was that you could choose just one Pokémon each and once they are unable to battle you are knocked out of the tournament. The tournament was about to start and there were 40 trainers eager to make the final. As the tournament progressed the semi-finals came down to May vs Max and Brock vs Ash, May decided to use Glaceon whilst Max sent out Grovyle.

"Grovyle use Bullet Seed" commanded Max

"Glaceon, dodge using dig, and carry on digging" May shouted to her icy fox Pokémon

"Grovyle, watch for Glaceon" Max exclaimed

"Glaceon, now use a full powered Icy Wind attack."

With that command from May all the holes on the battle field had silver shards flying out of them surrounding the grass type, it was like 100's of geyzers coming out of the ground. Because of the closeness of the holes, Grovyle was being thrown about all over the place and eventually thrown to the ground knocking the speedy grass type out.

"Grovyle is unable to battle, May and Glaceon win" announced the referee

"Thank you Grovyle, take a good rest" Said Max sympathetically

"The next match is between Ash and Brock" announced the referee

Ash and Brock took their positions at either end of the battle field, and Ash knowing that Brock only had one Pokémon with him decided which Pokémon he was going to use.

"Come on out Marshtomp" cried Brock

"Your time to shine Snivy" shouted Ash

The two Pokémon showed up on the battle field ready to battle, Marshtomp made the first move without Snivy realising.

"Marshtomp use Take Down" Brock cried out

"Sniiiiiiiii" the grass type cried out whilst flying through the air

"Snivy, are you okay?" Ash asked

"Sni" the little grass type said confindently

Just as Snivy replied she was surrounded by a white glow, with the shock on everyones face the little grass type was evolving after just one battle. Ash checked his pokédex to see what his new Pokémon was called.

"Servine – They avoid attacks by sinking into the shadows of thick foliage. They retaliate with masterful whipping techniques"

"Wow, Servine use Leaf Blade" Ash commanded

The newly evolved grass type obeyed straight away making a direct hit on Brocks water/ground type. You could see that both Pokémon were tired because of the two attacks they had both taken. But then Ash called Servine to use Leaf Storm which was another direct hit that wiped out Marshtomp.

"Marshtomp is Unable to battle, Servine and Ash win" said the referee

"Thank you Marshtomp return" Brock said returning his Pokémon

"Servine that was great" Ash shouted hugging his newly evolved grass type

The Final battle would consist of May vs Ash, because of it being the final they had to use a different Pokémon to ones they had previously used. Both Ash and May new exactly what Pokémon they were going to use and were getting ready to get the battle started. With both trainers I position their pokéballs in hand it was just a matter of seconds before they released their Pokémon and started the battle.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7 – Battle Royale**

"Call out your pokémon now" called the referee

"Manaphy, take the stage" May said in her signature coordinator's pose.

"Latias, come on out" Ash said in reply to both May and the referee, as the jet plane pokémon came out she hugged her trainer, whilst giving a happy screech.

The audience were highly intrigued as to how two young trainers both had legendary pokémon, and how they decided it was going to be a great battle due to the superior power of both pokémon, each one of the trainers were recognised, the male a brilliant pokémon trainer from the little town of pallet, and the female well that was easy a brilliant coordinator nicknamed 'The Princess of Hoenn'.

"The battle will now begin" cried out the referee

"Now Latias fly upwards" called Ash to his legendary, "eeeeee" the pokémon happily replied.

"Manaphy, use Bubblebeam on Latias" May called out hers, "Mana" she replied, firing a jet of bubbles that came into contact with Latias' head. With the latter coming back down to the floor with the loss of concentration.

"Quick Latias, use Dragon Pulse" With that command Latias fire a ferocious dragon pulse straight at the tiny little water pokémon.

"Manaphy, use Surf to get out of the way, quickly". With that the little aquatic pokémon created a wave and surfed out of the way, "Now jump onto Latias" May called out.

Latias was flying around in the air trying to shake off Manaphy, whilst this was happening Ash was trying to figure out one, how to get Manaphy of Latias and two, why May had a glint in her eye and smile as if she new what to do next. Then it hit him, Manaphy's a water type Ash thought to himself meaning it can learn ice type attacks, and Latias is a dragon type. He knew he had to think of something fast.

"Quick Latias, fly in a circle as fast as possible it should throw Manaphy off" "eeeeee" Latias replied. With that Latias started flying in circles that mirrored doing backflips in mid-air. After going round three times the little blue pokémon started plummeting towards the floor gaining speed as it was doing so.

"Quick Manaphy, use Scald on the floor to slow yourself down." Manaphy acknowledged the command and fired a strong scald attack directly at the floor and it did exactly what May said it would do, a trick learnt from watching Ash battle over the years.

"Wow May that was a really good manoeuvre" Ash called out

"Thanks Ash, I learnt it from you" May replied

"Latias go into a steep dive and use the speed to power up a Zen Headbutt" Ash cried to his dragon/psychic type.

"Manaphy anticipate the attack and at the right time fire a scald attack" May said to her water type.

Both pokémon acknowledged their trainers and did as they were told, Latias went into creating a very powerful Zen Headbutt, which sent the audience wild as they were witnessing such sheer power, as Latias was doing that Manaphy was waiting for just the right moment to fire here attack, when just as Latias was about 5 metres above her, she fired the scald attack which went straight into the dragon types eyes burning her eyes, Ash had realised what happened and Latias was in pain and couldn't concentrate properly due to the pain, to make it worse she could barely see either, May decided that this was her chance to finish the match.

"Manaphy quickly fire an Ice Beam straight at Latias"

"MAAANAAAA" the pokémon replied sending a ferocious beam of ice directly at Latias, with the resulting collision knocking out the dragon pokémon and May getting the win.

With the devastating blow Manaphy made the crowd erupted after a brilliant match between the two trainers and their legendaries, it was definitely a battle that would be worth watching again. With that both trainers called back their pokémon congratulating them on a job well done. Ash then congratulated May on the win and said to her, he would meet the three of them at the Pokémon Centre when she had got her prize, as he needed to get Latias seen to as soon as possible. To which May replied okay.

May collected her prize as Ash ran towards the pokémon centre, May already knew which pokémon she was going to evolve with her prize, Brock had an idea of which she was going to evolve after putting two and two together from what he'd seen earlier with the way May has been acting it could only be one pokémon, Brock thought to himself 'Pichu'.

The three of them headed towards the pokémon centre to meet up with Ash, who was sat in the waiting room waiting for Nurse Joy to bring back his pokémon, May, Max and Brock all gave their pokémon to Nurse Joy so they could be rested. Just as they did Nurse Joy gave Ash his pokémon back, whilst they were waiting for the rest of their pokémon the four of them sat talking about how the battles went, especially the final.

Just as they'd finished talking about it Nurse Joy brought back everyone's pokémon, whilst they were all together everyone called out their pokémon to see each other, it was at that moment that Max asked May;

"What pokémon are you going to evolve May"?

"Well Max, I've decided which one after lots of thinking"

"Pichu come here please," May asked her mouse pokémon

Pichu came over to where the four trainers were sat; she jumped up onto her trainers lap, looking at the candy in her hand. When May said the piece of candy was for Pichu, the little pokémon jumped with joy, Pichu gratefully took the candy off of her trainer and sat and ate it. After the little pokémon had eaten the candy it began to glow in a bright white light, it started to transform into a very, very familiar silhouette. It could only become one pokémon... Pikachu.

"Wow May, what made you evolve Pichu?" asked Max

"Well I thought it would be nice for Ash's Pikachu" replied May, stroking Ash's Pikachu.

"That's really nice May thank you" said Ash

As this was said Brock thought to himself I knew it would be Pichu, but that definitely wasn't the real reason she chose to evolve Pichu. He knew that May had serious feelings for Ash and that having a Pikachu that sits on her shoulder would mirror that of Ash, meaning that she would feel closer to Ash.

Everyone recalled their pokémon and then decided where they were to head next. As Max was taking the battle frontier challenge they decided to head towards the first challenge, the battle factory where, Noland would be waiting for Max's challenge. The gang then headed off in the direction of the battle factory to see Max enter his first battle of the whole challenge.

On the way to the battle factory the group stopped of at cerulean city, where they came across another challenge that was being held by none other than their friend Misty. This however wasn't a battle challenge it was a race, a water race. When Brock and Ash took a look at the poster it looked just like the race that Ash and Misty competed in when they were in Alto Mare. As they turned round they could see a person coming towards them, at first she was at such a distance she couldn't be recognised, but then out of everyone it was Max that recognised that it was Misty coming towards them.

"Hey Misty" everyone shouted in unison,

"Hey guys, I knew I'd be seeing you soon enough" replied Misty

"Haha, yeah us too" laughed Ash

"So then I see you've seen the poster about the race I'm holding, I'll bet you all want to partake in the race don't you?" Misty asked.

"We'd love to"

"When is it Misty?" asked May

"Tomorrow at noon" she replied "The rules are simple, you have to stand on a float, they're shaped just like the ones in Alto Mare, you must have a water pokémon pull you along, its on the beach and there will be a course in the sea that I will have marked out, if you fall of you get back on and carry on, no attacks can be made to disrupt other competitors, but can be to help yourself. If you win the prize is a pokémon egg. Its a very special egg as well, or so I have been told it came from the Unova region."

"Wow!" the four of them gasped, "It sounds great, can't wait"

"Great I'll sign you all up then, I'll see you later on then as I've got to get everything set up, have fun looking around" Misty said happily

With that the four of them went looking around, Max and Brock headed off towards the beach, Max knew he'd have to look after Brock with all the women about. May thought it would be great to spend the time alone with Ash, so they decided to go look around. As they were browsing some shops a trainer came up to them and started flirting with May, He said his name was Jay, Ash seeing this could feel something inside him that he didn't like and challenged Jay to a battle, He then accepted saying that if he won he could spend the rest of the day with May alone, Ash agreed to this, and said that if he won Jay had to go away and not bother them again, to which he agreed. Ash then gave May a look of assurance, to which she smiled.

May refereed the match,

"Each trainer can use one pokémon, as soon as the pokémon faints the other is the winner, you may now bring out your pokémon."

"Go Zigzagoon" shouted Jay

"Okay normal type, Go Scraggy" shouted Ash

"The match will now begin" said May

"Zigzagoon quickly use Headbutt" Jay cried

"Scraggy dodge and use Hi Jump Kick" Ash commanded, Scraggy gave a nod and did just that, Jay's Zigzagoon took a ferocious Hi Jump Kick straight to the face sending it tumbling backwards towards its trainer, Zigzagoon got up onto it's feet struggling due to the power and type advantage of Scraggy's attack,

"Now Zigzagoon use Quick Attack" shouted Jay, The little normal type did as it was told but it wasn't very strong due to the pokémon's fatigue.

"Quick Scraggy counter with a Focus Blast" Ash commanded, The fighting type agreed firing a stinging blue blast straight towards Zigzagoon, the collision was a strong one that sent Zigzagoon flying into the air, and crashing back down again. The battle had taken its toll on Zigzagoon and Jay recalled it, and left just as he said he would.

May then ran over to Ash and gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek, after the latter both of them blushed.

"Thank you for getting him away Ash" May said softly.

"It's okay May, I didn't like him, I just had to" Ash replied

"Is that a little jealousy I hear Ash Ketchum?" May said teasingly

"No" Ash said going red and pulling his hat over his face, trying to disguise it.

"Okay then I believe you Ashy, it's getting late though we should go find somewhere to stay for the night"

"Yeah okay May, what about that shack on the beach we saw"

"Yeah that sounds great Ash we should go book it now"

With that the two of them headed off towards the beach to rent the shack, it was big enough for the four of them, they got there and booked it, they all decided to get an early night in preparation for tomorrows race, each of them new which pokémon to use, May was using Manaphy, Ash was using Oshawott, Brock was using Marshtomp and Max was to use Corphish. They each said goodnight and fell asleep each dreaming of winning the prize of the pokémon egg.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8 – Surf's Up Cerulean City**

The next morning the four of them woke up, all of them raring to go. Max shot out of the door to get a bit of practice in before the race started, dressed only in a pair of lime green swimming shorts he and Corphish went onto the beautiful golden sandy beach of Cerulean City, overlooking the glistening and the twinkling calm ocean, the ocean itself was a beautiful aquamarine colour, it was so clear that you could see the shoals of Corsola and Magikarp swimming around, Max could swear he also saw a magnificently beautiful Milotic swimming near some Feebas, it was definitely a gorgeous sight to behold.

Back in the cabin, Brock was busy cooking breakfast for Ash and May, Brock thought to himself 'Those two wouldn't miss food for anything,' after Brock had finished laying the food out on the table, he actually thought the way that Ash and May had gone for the food that he was going to lose his fingers, they all sat down and ate, the breakfast looked divine, There were sausage, bacon, eggs, oran berries, pecha berry juice, and Miltank milk. Ash and May made no pauses when it came to eating they both wolfed down the food, thanked Brock for the meal and made headway to the beach themselves. Brock finished washing the cooking stuff up and made his way to the beach as well.

Ash got to the beach wearing a pair of white and black chequered swimming shorts, that were specially designed with holders round the waist band for his poké balls, May was wearing a white bikini with red hearts printed all over it, and Brock had green swimming shorts with an orange trim around. Each of the gang had their Pokémon out and were helping them train. Ash decided to take Oshawott into the ocean and practiced swimming around, Oshawott showed real speed when it came to being in the water, Max had Corphish pulling rocks across the sand to ensure it would have enough strength to pull the float he would stand on, May had Manaphy in the water practising with the float, making sure the little legendary had enough strength to pull it, and lastly Brock and Marshtomp were sat on the side of the beach just where the surf reached their toes, relaxing before the uproar from the crowd and competitors came along.

It was nearing noon, there were 50 competitors at the start line, 4 were Ash, Brock, May and Max, all of them were waiting for Misty to call out for the start of the race, the track marked out as far as Ash could see had artificial walls to make it like a maze, to Ash and Brock it seems that Misty had the walls represent the ones from Alto Mare, Misty was going through the rules to all the contestants and then telling them about the course.

"The course consists of a 2 and a ½ mile circuit, during the circuit there shall be different obstacles to block your way, you must get past the obstacles in order to complete the race, should you fall of your float you will be disqualified from the race, there will be no attacking other racers, if you do you will be disqualified. The first one back to the start wins the grand prize."

After hearing the mention of a grand prize everyone was spurred on, the eruption of the crowd made the anticipation of the start even greater. A minute later a start signal was made and the race was underway. As the race started not even 1 metre past the start line ten people fell off their floats, leaving only 40 contestants left. At the front of the pack was Max, it seemed that having Corphish pull the rocks really helped as he had a commanding lead, In 2nd was May, Manaphy was swimming through the water with ease, in fact it was more like gliding the little blue pokémon was making it look way too easy.

Ash was sat in 10th place, eager to get to the front and catch up with May and Max, Brock however was sat deep in 23rd, Brock and Marshtomp seemed to be taking it easy, making the swerves of the corners like they weren't there, Brock new that it was only the start of the race and there was ages before he had to make it to the front, at the same time he knew the pressure would be getting to whoever was in first place, due to them needing to stay in first place. As the contestants rounded turn 3, 15 more contestants came flying of their boards, because the turn was so tight.

Back in the front of the contestants Ash had moved to 4th place with some brilliant manoeuvre work from Oshawott, he was swimming through the water with complete ease, Ash then ordered an Aqua Jet from Oshawott, in which he was bumped into 1st place above Max and Corphish, whilst at the back Brock was having trouble dropping into last place which was now 19th place. Up at the front there was a huge wave coming at the contestants, Max and Corphish made it through without falling of the board, however 7 of the contestants didn't 2 of these were Ash and May, leaving only Max and Brock out of the four of them still in the race. Brock could see Marshtomp was feeling tired, but also wanted to win, the next minute Marshtomp stopped and was being surrounded into a bright white light, in fact it was that bright that one contestant looked and was that distracted fell of his board. Just then Marshtomp evolved into Swampert, and then started sprinting through the water, Swampert's speed was virtually unbelievable they were coming into the last stretch of the race as Brock moved into 2nd, Max couldn't believe he was about to win, he was almost there just a little further, however Brock moved side by side with him as they crossed the finishing line, it was down to a photo finish.

Every contestant and spectator was intrigued as to who won the prize, I took a few minutes to analyse but they had come to the conclusion of who had won. Misty had the two of them stood either side of her, to allow for her to give it to either one of them. After leaving everyone in suspense as to who won, especially in the blazing heat which made it even longer, Misty declared that the winner was... Brock. Swampert had just edged Corphish as they crossed the line, meaning that it was Brock and Swampert who won, Brock was ecstatic especially as it was Nurse Joy who handed him the egg, whilst at the same time giving him a congratulatory kiss on the cheek, to which Brock passed out.

When they finally brought Brock round they were all back in the beach shack, he was sat on the bed,

"I'll never wash this cheek again" He grinned whilst going bright red

"Same old Brock, he's definitely fine" Max said laughing and shaking his head

"Well I for one want to know what Pokémon is in the egg" May piped up

"Yeah same here" Ash said

"Well we'll find out when it hatches" Brock said "First things first though, what's the next stop we have?"

"The Battle Factory" Ash said calmly "Max's first challenge on the Battle Frontier"

"Yeah, I really can't wait" Max said eagerly

The gang spent the rest of the day at the beach, just relaxing, taking the nerves of Max before his big battle, though he didn't show them Ash, May and Brock new they were there. Everyone had their Pokémon out on the beach, Swampert, Oshawott, Manaphy and Corphish were all in the beautiful blue Ocean, no wonder it was named Cerulean City thought May. Both May and Ash's Pikachu's were cuddled up together. Flygon was taking all the little Pokémon up for flights, whilst everyone else just sat back and relaxed for the day. Brock was sat at the top of the beach, caring for his egg. Whilst May and Ash were taking a stroll along the surf, both of them moved their arms, to which their hands came together, with both of them pulling back out of sheer embarrassment.

"I'm sorry May I didn't mean to" Ash said stuttering

"It's okay Ash I think it was nice that you wanted hold hands" May replied

"Really because I've been thinking and its been like this for a long time now" Ash said

"Go on Ash thinking what" May said, feeling butterflies in her stomach

"I've missed you ever since we split after I won the Battle Frontier, and I really wanted to see you again, so when I saw you in Sinnoh I was over the moon, but I went straight back to missing you again when you left. What I'm really trying to say is I" Ash gulped "I love you May"

"Really Ash, that's so sweet but the thing is" Ash looked sad as she said this thinking she was going to say she loved someone else. "I love you too" "I wish I'd have gone to Sinnoh with you Ash, I missed you ever since I went, in fact the reason I caught Pichu was because she reminded me of you" replied May

"Really May that is brilliant, I was panicking thinking maybe you didn't love me, but now I know you do" "I couldn't be happier right now" Ash said, going bright red in the face.

"Ditto" May said holding her heart.

The two then held hands and carried on walking down the surf line, Brock witnessed the whole ordeal.

'I knew it was only a matter of time' Brock thought to himself

As night approached the gang spent their last night at the beach shack before getting up in the morning to head towards the battle factory. Morning came and all four of them had breakfast before heading out the door towards the Battle Factory, which Max was so excited for. They were heading through a thick forest, the trees were a beautiful green colour, the sun made the morning dew glisten, making the trees look as if there were emeralds branching from them. The wild pokémon were out by the dozen. There were Caterpie's, Ratata's, Bulbasaur's, and many more just wandering around, as they kept walking there was a silhouette standing in their way it was a huge pokémon with a big mane and black stripes around its body, as they got closer, Brock noticed it was an Arcanine. Last time they travelled Kanto May wanted to catch one, so she got her pokéball and threw it calling out Manaphy.

"Manaphy use Scald" May cried, Manaphy did this with a direct hit, causing a lot of damage due to the type difference.

Arcanine struck back using ExtremeSpeed, which was a head on collision as May didn't see it coming. However Manaphy sent another Scald, followed straight after by a Surf straight at Arcanine, both attacks were direct hits, making Arcanine now really weak, May then ordered a Bubblebeam which hit Arcanine head on, knocking the strong fire type out. May then threw a pokéball and watched in suspense as the ball rocked from side to side, bleeping with a red dot as it did so. May relaxed when the ball stopped and made the locking sound.

"I've just caught an Arcanine" May shouted, striking a victory pose.

"Well done May" Ash said

"Thanks Ashy" May replied, winking at him, to which as just blushed

"Hey May, what was the wink for" Max said, looking curiously at his sister

"Erm oh yeah I forgot to mention didn't I, me and Ash are now together, it happened whilst we were on the beach, we both said we love each other" said May very embarrassed

"Its okay guy's I already knew, I watched it happen" Brock said laughing

"Well now you all know, we should head on to the Battle Factory" Ash said smiling

With that the four of them headed towards the end of the forest where they were greeted by a gigantic silver building, that Ash recognised all too well, there it was in front of them, the Battle Factory. There they were greeted by Noland's assistant, who mentioned that Noland wasn't there and wouldn't be back until tomorrow, but they were welcome to stay for the night until he returned, to which they all said thank you and headed to their rooms, there were only two rooms so Max and Brock shared whilst Ash and May shared.

The rooms were really well decorated, black and white, with plants and pictures to make it more 'homey' in Ash and May's room, Ash noticed that one of the pictures was of a shoal of Luvdisc, he thought it was very appropriate given the circumstance. There was also only one double bed, which May was already laid in, wearing red pyjamas with pink hearts all over them, where Ash just slept in his underwear.

Max and Brocks room was decorated the same, the only difference was that they had two single bed's rather than one double. Everyone then fell asleep, with all in Max's mind, winning the first symbol in his Battle Frontier Challenge.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9 - Battle Factory Scorcher**

As the foursome woke up the next morning, by a mysterious but loud mechanical machine, Ash thought it must be something Noland was working on again. Max and Brock got dressed and left to go down to the battle arena to find Noland for preparation for his battle. Ash and May on the other hand decided to they wanted to wait a little bit longer before they left as they were only spectating, however in the end they both got dressed and left to find Brock as they were both, as they put it, 'Starving!'

Max had remembered from the last time of being here that Ash got to choose which Pokémon he was to battle to win the knowledge symbol. He couldn't wait to find out which Pokémon he had the choice of; he would determine his strategy based on the Pokémon there was. Soon enough Noland found where Max was and decided to show the young trainer which Pokémon he could choose to battle.

Noland took Max and Brock to where he kept his Pokémon and to both their surprise there were some pretty powerful Pokémon stood there from what both Brock and Max could see their was:

Flygon

Glalie

Raichu

Golem

Umbreon

Misdreavus

Chatot

Leafeon

Simipour

Gothitelle

After Max had his PokéDex scan the Pokémon he had decided which one he would like to face, and decided which Pokémon of his own he was going to use, so then Max turned to Noland and said;

"I choose Glalie" said Max

"Good choice Max, but I warn you he's very powerful" replied Noland

"I can imagine Noland, but I'm ready" Max replied, fire burning in his eyes.

"Well then we should make our way to the battle arena" Noland said

"Let's go" Max replied

As Max and Noland took their places at either end of the battle arena, May and Max turned up and sat down next to Brock, awaiting the ferocious battle that was about to commence.

"Glalie come on out" Shouted Noland

"Monferno, you too" Screamed Max

Ash thought Max had thought about his choice extremely well but it wasn't going to make the battle any easier with the type advantage, thinking back to his battle with Noland all those years back, realising that type advantage isn't everything as demonstrated with Charizard and Articuno. He decided to sit back with his lovely girlfriend cuddled up, and watch the battle unfold.

"This match will be a one on one match, first Pokémon down is the loser, Begin!" Called out the referee

"Monferno use flamethrower" Said Max

"Glalie, Dodge" Called Noland, to his ice type

The dodge was too easily made Max thought to himself, it's going to be a tougher battle than I expected, I'm going to have to do something extremely special to make sure I get my first symbol. But as Max was in his train of thought, Noland had Glalie deliver a harsh headbutt as a direct hit straight into Monferno.

Max decided he had to think quicker;

"Monerno use Flame Wheel, then straight away use Mach Punch" Max cried

"Quick Glailie Dog…" shouted Noland

It was too late both attacks had landed direct hits on Glalie, though he hadn't fainted you could see the fatigue in Glalie due to having two super effective moves hit directly in quick succession. Although even with this happening Ash noticed that Noland was still calm as if he had a trick up his sleeve.

"Glalie use Ice Beam, on yourself" Noland said calmly, this shocked everyone, even Glalie but the ice type did as it was told shrouding itself in an iceberg.

"Now use rest" Noland said again

Ash now saw what Noland was doing the ice would hopefully buy valuable time for Glalie to recover some lost energy and get back in the battle. As Ash was thinking Max had ordered Monferno to use Mach Punch on the iceberg to get through to Glalie, just as he did Glalie woke up.

"Glalie now use Bulldoze" cried out Noland

This was a head on collision, hitting Monferno square in the face, it also left him dazed for a second, a second long enough for Noland to get another Bulldoze attack in, Brock had noticed it was taking its toll on Monferno due to Bulldoze being a ground type move, it also looked like it was going to be over for Max until, Monferno started to glow red; Ash noted that this was Monferno's ability, Blaze!

"Monferno use Dig, and keep digging around Glalie" Max cried, knowing this was his only chance to win

At this point there were loads of holes surrounding Glalie, and both Glalie and Noland couldn't understand what Max was up to. But they soon found out, and found it out the hard way.

"Now Monferno from underground, full power Flamethrower" Max cried

Monferno did as he was told and the power from blaze made the flames gigantic, they surrounded Glalie knocking the ice type from one flame to another, delivering serious amounts of damage each time, until he couldn't bare it anymore and fainted, giving Max the victory.

"That was a great battle Glalie you did well now take a good rest" Noland said

"Well battled Monferno return" said Max

"Awesome battle Max, and as proof of your win I reward you with this, the knowledge symbol"

"Thanks Noland, I did it guys, my first symbol" Max shouted

After talking for a while, the foursome decided they'd better set off towards Max's next battle, and with it not long before it becomes dark better makes some ground. As they were walking they were surrounded by 30 foot trees, filled with Pidgey's, Spearow's, and Noctowl's, which Ash deemed strange, but thought nothing of it, as per usual. They kept walking until they came to a lake it was beautiful; an aquamarine blue, Ash noted it was the same colour as Manaphy. Brock said this is where they would spend the night and that they should set up camp.

30 minutes passed as everyone pitched their tents Max and Brock in one and Ash and May in the other. Ash saw an old tree and decided it would be perfect as firewood so he called out his pokémon and they got to work with collecting and cutting it.

Servine used her leaf blade to chop it as Pikachu used Iron Tail in the same way, whilst Tepig, Oshawott, Latias, Scraggy and Axew helped carry it all back, it took them ten minutes to finally get it all back to the camp site, where May had built a pit for the wood to sit in. As they had finally got everything together Brock said he would make dinner, so everyone went to go for a swim in the lake. Whilst they were in the wild Pokémon came to play with them, a lot were Pokémon not native to Kanto, there were Bellossom, Beautifly, Chatot, Marill, Staryu, Corsola, Remoraid and Mantyke. The Pokémon of the foursome that couldn't go in the water decided to watch over Brock's egg whilst he was cooking dinner.

The sun was blazing over the lake, making it glisten, it was a beautiful sight to see, and by Ash's account even better to be swimming in. May was playing with Max and their Pokémon whilst Ash was helping Oshawott practice some new moves namely Scald and Aqua Jet. He started off with Scald and had him fire straight at tree on the edge of the lake, it was a weak effort, but Ash being Ash encouraged Oshawott to keep going at it and after about 15 tries managed to make a perfect shot. Oshawott kept on firing Scald attacks until absolutely every one of them were perfect, in fact it was just as Brock called everyone back for dinner that Oshawott mastered the move. Ash mentioned that if they were up to it after dinner they would start on learning Aqua Jet.

Ash noted that Brock's 'Dinner' was more of a feast than a dinner. Although saying that Ash and May weren't complaining, Max thought to himself these two will never lose their appetites. Whilst Brock laughed saying

"Same old story"

The dinner was rice balls, ramen, sushi, and fruit. Then not to mention all the Pokémon food, everyone had their own bowl. At the end of the meal everyone was stuffed, even Ash said he couldn't face another bite. Due to the location of where they were and that it was such a nice location they decided to camp there for the night. So after deciding that, they all went searching for things for the camp site. Ash and May went for fire wood, Max for berries and Brock set up the tents and the fire pit.

As Ash and May were walking with Glaceon and Pikachu in tow, May suddenly stopped, wondering what was going on Ash went over to her and asked why she had stopped, when May suddenly swung round and gripped Ash in a bear hug. Although Ash enjoyed the embrace he could barely breathe, it wasn't until he'd turned a beautiful shade of purple that May let go. They were both laid on the floor looking at the stars whilst Ash was trying to regain his breaths.

"I'm sorry for nearly choking you Ash" May sobbed

"Don't worry about it May" laughed Ash whilst still coughing

"But didn't it hurt you? She asked

"Just a little bit, I was concentrating more on the embrace if I'm honest May" Ash replied winking at his girlfriend

"Well there's plenty more of those, Ash Ketchum" she said striking a pose, to which Ash grinned

After looking at the stars for 10 minutes Ash turned on his side to face May who was still mesmerised by the beauty of the sky, the pitch black but the glistening of the silver stars, surrounded by flying Pokémon, the hoots made by the Noctowl's and Hoothoot's. It was a magnificent atmosphere to be surrounded by. May then turned to face Ash, he then pulled her closer and then….. The kiss, sparks were flying, they held each other in a deep embrace, and stayed like that for a while, before they decided they needed to be back at the campsite before Brock and Max got worried.

Using Blaziken to light the way for the two of them, they made it back to the camp site with enough wood to last them for a week. Everything was set up and May had Blaziken set a light the logs that were sat in the fire pit, and the four trainers sat around the fire roasting some marshmallows that Brock had prepared whilst everyone was gathering the stuff. After half an hour of sitting around the fire everyone began to get drowsy and decided that it was time to hit the hay. Brock and Max fell asleep almost instantly, however Ash and May decided that they would cuddle close and talk for a little while longer. The conversation however didn't last as long as they had hoped it would as the both of them crashed almost instantly and were out like a light. Both Pikachu and Glaceon cuddled up next to each other and fell asleep as well.

The next morning the four of them got up and had some breakfast made by non-other than master chef extraordinaire….. Brock! Once they had eaten they got everything packed up and headed through the forest to their next destination, Saffron City, the closest city to the Battle Arena, where Max was to challenge Greta for his second symbol, the guts symbol. As they were walking through the forest on another gorgeous day, they came across a Pokémon that no of them had seen before it was obviously from another region, Ash believed it to be a Unova Pokémon. He pulled out his PokéDex and it scanned the Pokémon revealing it to be; a Golett

*Golett, the Automaton Pokémon. It is said that Golett was instructed to protect people and Pokémon by the ancient civilization that created it.*

"Wow, that looks like one tough Pokémon" Max exclaimed

"Yeah it does" Ash followed

"I'm going to catch it, it would make a brilliant addition to my team" Max exclaimed

"Go Corphish, the PokéDex says that Golett is a Ground/Ghost type making it weak to Water types so here we go Corphish, use Crabhammer" shouted Max

The wild Golett made an attempt to dodge the attack but Corphish was too quick for him and landed a direct hit. Golett then responded with a wickedly powerful Mega Punch. Connecting with Corphish it sent the little crab Pokémon flying through the air. However Max intended to use the air time that Corphish by making his Pokémon use Surf and create a gigantic tidal wave that Golett had no escape from and would be the decisive blow needed for Max to be able to catch Golett. The attack hit the Pokémon with astonishing power. The wave was that big that everyone and thing in the close vicinity of the battle got absolutely drenched. And Golett was K.O'd.

"Go pokéball" Max cried, throwing the red and white ball towards Golett.

Everyone watched anxiously as the ball rocked from side to side to side to side. And then the thing they had been waiting for, the ball stopped and the capsule locked, which meant Max had successfully captured the Golett. The gang then headed towards the Pokémon Centre in Saffron City so that Max could send his Mightyena to Petalburg Gym to stay with Caroline and Norman, Max and May's, Mother and Father. As Max was completing the transfer, May was wondering about and her eye was caught by a poster on the billboard. 'Saffron City Love Festival' May thought it would be an amazing idea for her and Ash to go around it as a couple for some alone time. Whilst she also thought it would be 'babe' paradise for Brock, the fact that there would be so many women at the festival made May think that if Brock saw it, he may just have a heart attack from overuse. She just laughed and then noted that the festival started at 9:00am tomorrow morning and finished at 00:00am with the final thing on the night done a slow dance, followed with a midnight kiss. May thought to herself how romantic. But then had another thought; 'hang on a minute, where's Ash?'


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10 – Saffron City, Love Festival**

Ash was in fact outside in the training area working with his squad;

Pikachu

Latias

Servine

Oshawott

Tepig

Axew

Scraggy

He was working on their attacks and battle strategies, Their attacks consisted of:

Pikachu - Volt Tackle, Thunderbolt, Iron Tail and Discharge

Latias - Psychic, Zen Headbutt, Dragon Pulse and Shadow Ball.

Servine - Leaf Blade, Leaf Storm, Solarbeam, and Energy Ball.

Oshawott – Scald, Razor Shell, Aqua Tail and Surf

Tepig – Flamethrower, Heat Wave, Flame Charge and Assurance

Axew – Dragon Claw, Dragon Pulse, Draco Meteor, and Slash

Scraggy – Headbutt, High Jump Kick, Focus Punch and ThunderPunch

Ash had each of his Pokémon, bar Pikachu face each other. The arena they were on was a rocky surface, covered in battle markings. The arena was surrounded by twenty foot tall trees all beautifully covered in green leaves and pink petals. With a gentle summer breeze blissfully blowing by, to Ash it seemed such a gorgeous day, one he felt would a brilliant one to relax in, however he knew he had to do some training with his team.

Latias was facing Scraggy, Servine facing Oshawott, and Tepig facing Axew. Ash had each of them battle each other till he felt comfortable with their progress. They all, to Ash, looked in great shape he couldn't wait to have another battle, just so he could use another one of his new Pokémon.

The training went on for about 20 minutes as they were all looking good but ash didn't want to tire them out so he decided to take them all to Nurse Joy, except Pikachu as he didn't train as Ash felt he was too strong for his new Pokémon just yet. As he was coming back from the desk he saw May sat next to the videophone;

"Hey May watcha doin?" Ash said smiling

"Hey Ash, I'm just speaking to Professor Oak" May replied softly

"About what?" he said

"I'm sending him a couple of my Pokémon, just so I have some space should I catch another" she replied with a smile

"Haha, makes sense then, who have you returned?" Ash asked, with a very intrigued look on his face

"Beautifly, Blastoise and Venasaur, It also allows me to carry Charmander and Arcanine" She replied

"Cool I'll be looking forward to seeing you use them May, anyway I'll be back soon I'm just going to go find Brock and Max" Ash said calmly

"Okay Ash, I'll see you back at the room when you get back" May replied softly

Ash replied okay and off he went to find Brock and Max, Unbeknownst to Ash those two were already in their room, but he went outside where he saw attractions being built on the summer green grass, as he had no idea what was going on he went to ask Nurse Joy what was happening, and she told him that they were getting ready for the Saffron City Love Festival. Ash thought this would be great to spend with May, however what he didn't know was that she thought exactly the same thing. And with that Ash headed to his bed to get an early night so he could be up at half past eight in the morning to be able to be ready for the start of the festival at nine.

The next morning Ash awoke beside May, he got out of bed and let her sleep, knowing she would probably kill him if he woke her up. He wanted to get to the bathroom so he could get ready and dressed for the festival. However at the foot of the bed all of his and May's Pokémon were sleeping leaving only tiny gaps to put his feet to get around them. He really didn't want to tread on one as it would be suicide.

After five minutes of creeping on his tip toes Ash managed to weave through all the Pokémon and get to the bathroom, he decided to jump in the shower freshen up and then get into his clothes, and finally go and wake May up, or should I say that's what he planned to do. Five minutes of being in the shower he heard the door creek open, he couldn't see much because of the steamed up glass, and thought nothing of it, so he got back on with finishing his revitalising shower.

Just as he had finished his shower, Ash got out and totally forgot about the door and walked out with only a towel around him. To his horror May was in the bathroom too, she was putting on her make-up using the mirror, she then looked up and saw Ash behind her and started to giggle, when Ash noticed he just went bright red in the face, the sheer embarrassment of May seeing him like this made him want to dig a hole and bury himself in it.

"Maaaay, what are you doing in here?" Ash stuttered under the influence of his embarrassment

"Well I needed to do my make-up and I noticed you were in the shower and figured it would be okay" May replied, still giggling to herself

"It's fine it was just a shock that was all, a bit of warning would be nice next time" Ash said, trying to pull himself together

"Haha okay I'll make sure I do Ash" May said winking at him

"I'm going to go and get dressed May, I'll see you in the bedroom"

"Okay Ash, I'll be there as soon as I'm done"

With that Ash walked into the bedroom to go and get dressed, his clothes were on the bed, it seemed to him that May had got them and folded them up nicely for him to just put on. However as he was nearing the bed Ash forgot about all the Pokémon on the floor. He just prayed that as he was getting his clothes on none of them woke up.

Eventually Ash was finally ready to go, however on the other hand May wasn't so he decided to just chill out and wait on the bed for her, he thought to himself the bed was really well thought out for a 'couples room' It was a black wooden finish with four posts, that had a curtain dangling around them, it was a very thin material, pink almost see through, covered with red love hearts. He didn't bother packing his bag because they had booked the room for two nights due to the festival ending at midnight. The only things he was taking with him were his Pokémon for emergencies.

It was 8:52 am by the clock on his bedside table and Ash was wondering if May was ever going to be ready, however two minutes later she came out of the bathroom completely ready.

"Come on Ash it's time to go" May squealed

"I know May, I've been waiting for you" Ash replied sticking his tongue out at the co-ordinator

"Well come on then let's get going" She said running out of the door

In the meantime Max and Brock were just heading out of the Pokémon Centre themselves, Just as Max stepped out of the door May sent him flying. Brock helped Max up off the floor and they then both headed off in to the flowing streets of people, everywhere they looked there were couples here and there, Brock deemed it unfair that Ash had a girlfriend and he didn't.

Looking back over all the time he'd spent with Ash, trying to finally get a girl, he met one that he wouldn't forget, he didn't tell anyone as it was the only girl Brock did think about, in fact she was one of the only girl's that actually liked Brock back, in fact when the others weren't around they had talked about moving in together, but before they could get that far, she had a little bit more to do. Brock just wished they could be together like they planned. However little did Brock know it was going to happen, just not tonight.

Ash and May were checking out all the attractions together, and they were a lot of them, from rollercoaster's to the tunnel of love. May being May wanted to have a go on them all. Ash on the other hand just wanted to go onto the adrenaline pumped rides, i.e. the rollercoaster's. There were also little stalls to buy souvenirs, and little food courts, and game stalls. It was basically the Pokémon equivalent of Disneyland. Balloons of different Pokémon floating around Ash notably saw a Pikachu one, but there were Beautifly's, Bellossom's and even Buizel's. May saw on a poster that when it got darker there was going to be a fireworks display.

Away from Ash and May, Max was looking around all the game stalls seeing if there was anything worth having a go at, he eventually came across a firing game, you had to use a water-type Pokémon and knock down targets, there were five targets to knock down in three commands. Max decided he wanted to have a go with the prize being a Sinnoh Pokémon egg .

Max stood with Corphish, and thought of what move to use, he then decided and commanded it;

"Corphish use Scald"

The crustacean Pokémon fired a jet of hot water from his pincers and only managed to knock down one target, Max ordered the same again, only to have the same result, Max really wanted that egg, but Corphish was only managing to hit one target at a time. So he stopped and thought for a second and then it hit him;

"Corphish use Crabhammer and side swipe the three targets" Max commanded

And the little crustacean Pokémon did just that. Knocking the remainder of the targets down in that one stroke of his arm earning Max the prize he saw.

"Well done kid, you're the first person to manage to win since the whole event opened three hours ago" said the man who run the game.

"Wow, thanks, come on Corphish let's see what else there is to do" Max said

"Cor, Corphish"

Now whilst everyone else was off doing their own thing Brock picked a nice little spot to put his camping stuff, even though they had rented the rooms in the Pokémon centre Brock really wanted to lay out under the stars, and wait for the fireworks, just thinking of that one girl, whom he couldn't wait to be with again. Just one girl he had found that liked him back and my gosh was Brock smitten with her.

He could picture her now; That tall beautiful bluenette, wearing her signature pink top, that fastened just under her bust, leaving a section cut off around her stomach, her bright blue jeans and the flip-flops to finish the outfit, she stood there waiting for Brock to come and get her.

_Lizabeth he thought to himself, when are we going to be together again, at the moment I can only wait and hope, but I can't wait until we do meet, we can finally move in together like we had planned to._

At that moment Brock saw a shooting star come across the sky, and well you can guess what his wish was.

Meanwhile May and Ash had practically been on every ride going, the only thing left for them to do was the Ferris wheel, it took half-an-hour to do a complete circle, and they had left this ride for last on purpose, it was 11:45, the fireworks went off at 00:00 they knew that if they got on now they would be right at the top for the fireworks and the midnight kiss. And oh how they couldn't wait.

It was now a minute to midnight, and the suspense was rising, thirty seconds to go, Ash and May stood hand in hand, fifteen seconds to go, they turned to face each other going in for the hug a tight embrace… 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1…. Boom! Off went the fireworks and so did Ash and May's lips. The embrace turned into a two minute long kiss. It was done at the very top of the Ferris wheel, in front of the fireworks. Different coloured love hearts forming behind them, from blue, red and green to pink, gold and silver about any colour you could think of it was there.

As the wheel was on its way down May and Ash both decided to head back to the room, so they could be up bright and early after all no-one wanted to keep Max from his battle frontier challenge. After the fireworks had finished Brock made his way back to the room, meeting Max along the way. They then together went back to the room and got an early night, because as they knew it was another challenge ahead of Max, and he didn't want to be sleepy for it.

In the other room May and Ash were getting ready for bed themselves. Ash not bothering with pyjamas opted to just sleep in his boxer shorts. May on the other hand decided to sleep in her pyjamas, bright red lounge pants with a pink top with a bright red love heart. With the romance of the night the two of them fell asleep in each other's arms.


End file.
